DiMarco vaults clear of field

Chris DiMarco had a long, but prosperous day as he played 28 holes and recorded 13 birdies to take a commanding second-round lead at a weather-affected The International on Friday.

With the unique Stableford scoring format in use, DiMarco finished his suspended first round in the morning, scoring eight points for a first-round total of 14. He added 17 in the second round and has 31 for the tournament.

Australian Rod Pampling, who was on his 11th hole when second-round play was suspended due to darkness, is second with 25 points. The second round is scheduled to finish on Saturday morning at 7 a.m. local time.

Bob Tway is in the clubhouse in third place with 18 points, tied with Australian Geoff Ogilvy who is through 12 holes.

Olin Browne is in with 17 points, followed by Danny Ellis with 16 and Tom Pernice Jr. and Kevin Sutherland with 15 each.

After a break on Friday morning, DiMarco came out firing in the second round with a birdie at the par-five first hole.

"It was nice to be able to finish that round and then go right out and play again and be able to birdie the first hole," DiMarco said.

"You're seeing a lot of good scores out there. I just knew I needed to get as much as I can, because there's a lot of birdies out there."

DiMarco added birdies at the par-four fifth and sixth holes and the par-five eighth for an outward 32.

On the back nine of Castle Pines Golf Club, DiMarco carded five more birdies, including a 25-foot putt from the fringe at the par-four 10th and pitching in with a three-wood from the back of the par-four 12th green.

The only blemish on his card was a bogey at the par-four 18th. DiMarco left his par attempt a foot short.

With just two tournaments left before the cut-off date for making the U.S. Ryder Cup team, DiMarco is currently 19th on the points list.

While only the top 10 make the team automatically, DiMarco is one of about another 10 that captain Hal Sutton is considering.

DiMarco, who has five top-10 finishes this season and four other top-20 finishes, said he was not thinking about making the team this week, but believes a strong finish would certainly help his case.

"I've had so many top 11 through 20s in the last two years, and you get nothing for it," he said.

"Obviously it's a big goal, I want to be there, but I'm not going to put any extra added pressure on myself about it."

Tway, who played 27 holes on Friday, has posted consecutive rounds of nine points and is 13 back of DiMarco, roughly the difference in seven birdies.

"Well, that's a lot," Tway said of overcoming such a large deficit.

"But things can happen. Sometimes you have a lead and sometimes people are able to keep going like that, and sometimes it's more difficult because they are playing maybe a little bit more conservative.

"He could run away from it or he could not. You can't worry about that. You just go play."

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